WebX 2025 - Building Institutional Grade Digital Asset Rails (S4E1)

Welcome to the 151st edition of the eXponential Finance Podcast, and the opening of Season IV! Whether you listen to us for the first time, or are a regular, we appreciate your spending time with us.

This episode is available on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, and many other major platforms via our Spotify Podcaster Page.

 For this episode, we are coming to you live from the vibrant heart of Tokyo, recording at the WebX conference in August 2025. The energy here is electric, focused on one central theme: moving beyond the hype and into real-world, large-scale adoption.

And the central question on everyone's mind is... how do the giants of traditional finance—the banks, the asset managers, the institutions with trillions of dollars—actually plug into the world of blockchain?

They need new plumbing. They need new pathways. They need… Institutional Rails.

Our panel features:

• Betty Sun-Lucas, Regional Director, APAC at the Stellar Development Foundation,
• Qin En Looi, Partner at Saison Capital (and by now Managing Partner at Onigiri Capital ), and
• Matt Harrop, Co-Founder of Figment

Key Takeaways

1. Trust and Longevity are Crucial: In an industry filled with hype, foundational players like Stellar emphasize their 10+ year track record of building secure and compliant infrastructure. This history is essential for attracting risk-averse financial institutions.
2. Compliance is the Gateway to Institutional Adoption: For traditional finance to enter the blockchain space, they require partners who prioritize safety and regulation. Figment’s "compliance-first" approach, which includes adhering to regulations like OFAC sanctions lists, provides the comfort and security institutions need.
3. Real-World Utility is Driving the Next Wave: The focus is shifting from speculation to practical applications. Key examples include Stellar’s work with Franklin Templeton to tokenize a money market fund, dramatically lowering the investment minimum, and its partnership with MoneyGram to create seamless global crypto-to-cash payment rails.
4. The Convergence is Happening Behind the Scenes: While tokenized assets and ETFs grab headlines, much of the immediate value for institutions lies in back-office efficiencies. Using blockchain for processes like settlement and reconciliation significantly reduces costs and complexity, similar to how cloud computing revolutionized IT without the end-user noticing.
5. Proactive Collaboration is Shaping Regulation: Rather than waiting for rules to be handed down, industry leaders are actively working with regulators in markets like Japan and Malaysia. This collaborative approach helps build a practical, compliant framework and gives the industry a chance to help "define the rules of the game."

Full Podcast Summary

This episode of Exponential Finance is broadcast live from the WebX Conference in Tokyo in August 2025. The central theme is how traditional financial giants—banks, asset managers, and institutions—can plug into the world of blockchain. The discussion focuses on the need for "institutional rails," the secure and compliant infrastructure required for mass adoption.

The Foundation: Is Legacy Still Relevant?

The conversation begins with a question to Betty from Stellar: with so many new protocols launching, is a 10-year-old "dino" like Stellar still relevant? Betty affirms that Stellar’s longevity is its strength. It has spent a decade building a secure, interoperable, and compliant network focused on real-world financial services. She points to partnerships with major players like Franklin Templeton, PayPal, and Circle as proof of the trust they’ve built.

The Infrastructure: Staking for Institutions

Matt from Figment explains the critical role of institutional staking. He defines staking as the process of locking up tokens (like ETH) to secure a blockchain network, a function that replaces traditional mining. Figment was built from day one to serve the most risk-averse financial institutions, focusing on safety, security, and compliance. Matt notes that engaging with these clients is a multi-year process of building relationships and providing assurance that their assets will be safe in the on-chain environment.

The Bridge: Venture Capital and Education

Qin En describes Saison Capital’s role as a bridge between the old and new financial worlds. As the venture arm of a major Japanese credit card company, they quickly realized that traditional financial institutions in Asia needed significant "hand-holding" to understand and adopt blockchain technology. In response, they began creating educational platforms, reports, and conferences to provide a safe space for these institutions to learn and collaborate, helping them navigate this new territory.

Use Cases and Convergence

The discussion then turns to concrete examples of this integration.

• Real-World Assets (RWAs): Betty highlights Franklin Templeton's tokenized money market fund on Stellar, which lowers the minimum investment from thousands of dollars to just $20, democratizing access to financial products.
• Global Payments: Stellar’s partnership with MoneyGram allows for seamless crypto-to-cash on-ramps and off-ramps in over 170 countries, showcasing blockchain’s power to improve cross-border payments.

Qin En adds that while these consumer-facing products are important, the most significant immediate benefit for institutions is in optimizing back-office operations like reconciliation and settlement. He predicts a convergence where traditional finance and blockchain merge, much like fintech and banking have, with the end user benefiting from a better experience without needing to understand the underlying technology.

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

The panelists conclude with their outlook on the future.

• Matt states that regulatory clarity is arriving in Japan and globally, which will unlock a massive wave of institutional activity. Figment is positioned to provide the necessary staking infrastructure.
• Betty encourages builders interested in cross-border payments and RWA tokenization to connect with the Stellar ecosystem, which offers grants, funding, and a network of established partners.
• Qin En delivers a powerful call to action for the builders and founders present, urging them to "be bold and think big." He emphasizes that now is the prime time to build, leveraging Japan’s global credibility to create solutions for the rest of the world, all while working within a compliant framework.